Citrus
Botanical Name - Citrus limon
Family -Rutaceae

• Citrus is an important fruit crop.
• Lemon is one of the important category of citrus.
•  It is mainly known for its pulp and juice throughout the world.
• Different citrus fruits are used throughout the world as food or juice.
• In central India, Nagpur santra is grown on a large scale.
• Mandarin Production states are Assam, Dibrugarh and Brahmaputra valley
•  In India Citrus cultivation is done on an area of about 923 thousand hectare with annual production of 8608 thousand metric tons.
• In Punjab citrus is grown on 39.20 hectares of land.

Soil –

• Lemons can be grown in all types of soils.
• Light soils having good drainage are suitable for its cultivation.
• PH range of soil should be 5.5-7.5.
• They can also grow in slightly alkaline and acidic soils.
• Light loam well drained soils are best for lemon cultivation.

Climate –

• Areas with dry climate and low rainfall are best suited for growing limes.
• Lemons can be grown in heavy rainfall humid regions.

Time of sowing
The best season for planting is July-August.

Seed Rate
Minimum plant density of 208/acre should be maintained.

• Land should be ploughed, cross ploughed and leveled properly.
• Planting is done on terraces against slopes in hilly areas.
• High density planting is also possible in such areas.

Spacing

•  Spacing between plants should be kept between 4.5 m ×4.5 m.
• Pits of size 60×60×60 cm should be dug for planting seedlings.
• 10 Kg of Farmyard Manure and 500 gm of single superphosphate should be applied to pits while planting.

Sowing Depth
Pits of size 60×60×60cm should be dug for planting seedlings.

Fertilizer requirement

Nutrient requirement

• When age of crop is 1-3 year, apply well decomposed cow dung@ 5-20kg per Tree and Urea @100-300 gm per Tree.
• For 4-6 year old crop, apply well decomposed cowdung @ 25-50kg and Urea@100-300 gm per Tree.
• For 7-9 year old crop, apply Urea @ 600-800 gm per tree and well decomposed cow dung @60-90 kg per Tree.
• When crop is 10year old or above, apply cowdung@100kg or Urea@800-1600gm per tree.
• Apply whole amount of cow dung during December month
• whereas apply Urea in two parts; apply first of Urea in February, and second dose in April-May month.
• At time of applying first dose of Urea, apply whole dose of SSP fertilizer.
• If fruit drop is observed, to control excessive fruit drop, take spray of 2,4-D@10gm in 500Ltr of water.
• Take first spray in March end, then in April end.
• Repeat the spray in August and September end.
• If cotton is planted in nearby field of citrus, avoid spraying of 2,4-D, instead take spray of GA3.

• Weed can be controlled by hand-hoeing and also controlled by chemically, use glyphosate @1.6 litre per 150 litre of water.
• Use glyphosate only on weeds not on crop plants.

• Lemon requires irrigation at regular intervals.
• Lifesaving irrigation should be given in winters and summers.
• Irrigation is necessary for Flowering, Fruiting and proper plant growth.
• Over irrigation may also leads to diseases like Root rot and collar rot.
• High frequency irrigation is beneficial. Salty water is injurious for crop plants.
• Partial drying out of soil in spring may not affect plants.

1)Citrus Psylla :

Symptoms-

• These are juice sucking pests.
• Damage is mainly caused by nymphs.
• It injects a plant toxin liquid which burns foliage and skin of fruit.
• Leaves curl and fall off prematurely.

Management-

• It can be controlled by pruning of diseased plants, burning them.
• Spraying of Monocrotophos-0.025% or carbaryl- 0.1% can also be helpful.

2) Leaf miner :

Symptoms–

• Larvae inside the upper or lower surface of young and newly emerged leaves are curled and look distorted.
• Young trees show a reduction in growth due to leaf miner.

Management-

• Best management for leaf miner is to leave it alone and let the natural enemies to feed upon them and parasitize their larvae.
• It can also be controlled by spraying Phosphomidon @1ml or Monocrotophos @1.5ml per 3-4 times fortnightly.
• Pheromone traps are also available for detecting leaf miner moths.

3) Scale Insects :

Symptoms-

• Citrus scale insects are small insects that suck sap from the citrus trees and fruits.
• Honeydew is produced which is feasted upon by ants.
• They do not have much mouth parts.
• Male citrus scale has a short life span.   
• Once dead, soft scale will fall from tree instead of remaining stuck.
• They can be controlled with the introduction of indigenous parasitic wasps.

Management-

• Neem oil is also effective against them.
• Spraying of Parathion (0.03%) emulsion, dimethoate 150ml or malathion @0.1% are effective against scale control.

4) Aphids & Mealy Bugs:

Symptoms–

• They are small sap sucking pests.
• Bugs are present on the underside of leaves.

Management-

Synthetic Pyrethroids or pest oil can be used to control aphids and bugs.

1.Citrus Canker:

Symptoms

• Plants have lesions on stems, leaves and fruits with brown, water-soaked margins.
• Citrus canker bacteria can enter through plant’s stomata into the leaves.
• Younger leaves are highly susceptible.
• Lesions oozes bacterial cells which can be dispersed by blowing wind to healthy plants in area.
• Contaminated equipment tends to spread disease to healthy plants.
• Bacteria can stay viable in old lesions for several months.
• It can be detected by appearance of lesions.

Management-

• It can be controlled by cutting of effected branches, twigs.
• Spraying of Bordeaux mixture @1%. Aqueous solution of 550 ppm, Streptomycin Sulphate is also helpful in controlling citrus canker.

2) Gummosis :

Symptoms-

• Exudation of gum from bark of tree is the characteristic symptom of gummosis disease.
• Affected plant leaves turns to pale yellow in color.
• Hardness masses of gum are common on stem and leaf surfaces.
• In severe cases, bark may be destroyed by rotting and tree may dies.
• Plant dies before the fruit matures. This disease is also called foot rot.

Management-

• This disease can be managed through proper selection of site with proper drainage, use of resistant varieties etc.
• Plant injuries should be avoided.
• Drench the soil with 0.2% metalaxyl MZ-72 + 0.5% trichodermaviride, which helps to control this disease.
• Bordeaux mixture should be applied to plant upto 50-75 cm height from ground level at least once in a year.

3) Powdery mildew :

Symptoms-

• White cottony powdery growth is noticed on all aerial plant parts.
• Leaves tend to become pale yellow and crinkle.
• Distorted margins are also seen.
• Upper surface of leaves are more affected.
• Young fruits drop off prematurely. Yield is reduced significantly. 

Management-

• To control powdery mildew, affected plant parts should be removed and destroyed completely.
• Carbendazim, three times at 20-22 days of interval helps to control this disease.

4) Black Spot :

Symptoms-

• Black spot is a fungal disease.
• Circular, dark spots on fruits are seen.

Management-

• Copper spray in early spring should be sprayed on foliage helps to cure plants from black spots.
• It should be repeated in 6 weeks again.

5) Lemon Scab :

Symptoms-

• It affects some of the mandarin varieties and lemon fruits.
• Raised grey corky scabs on tree branches, fruits and leaves are seen causing distortions of the fruit.
• Fruits fall of at very early stages of growth.
• It is caused due to fungus.

Management-

• Copper spray mixed with white oil should be sprayed on the foliage to prevent lemon scab.
• Two table spoons of white oil to two liter of water should be added into 5 litre or copper spray mixture.

6) Collar Rot :

Symptoms-

• Collar rot is also caused due to fungus.
• This disease mainly affects the bark on tree trunk.
• Bark begins to rot and forms a band just above ground surface, this band decay gradually and covers the whole trunk.
• It is very severe in some cases that even the trees may die.
• This is caused due to incorrect mulching, injury due to weeding, mowing etc.
• Tree may lose its vigor.
• To protect trees from collar rot, cut and scrape away the soft, infected bark to clean the trunk of tree.

Management–

• Mixture of copper spray or Bordeaux mixture should be painted on the affected part of the tree.
• Remove all the weak, diseased and congested tree branches to ensure proper air circulation.

• On attaining proper size, shape along with attractive color having TSS to Acid ratio of 12:1, kinnow fruits is ready for harvest.
• Depending upon variety fruits are generally ready for harvesting in Mid- January to Mid- February.
• Do harvesting at proper time as too early or too late harvesting will give poor quality.

• After harvesting, wash fruits with clean water then dip fruits in Chlorinated water@2.5ml per Liter water and then partially dried them.
• To improve appearance along with to maintain good quality, do Citrashine wax coating along with foam.
• Then these fruits are dried under shade and then packing is done. Fruits are packed in boxes.